With around 27 million Indigenous peoples– from nearly 2,000 communities across 87 countries – living in coastal areas, Indigenous communities have a key role to play in MPA design and management. The planning and management of MPAs – including design of management protocols and MPA goals – requires in-depth local knowledge and expertise, which Indigenous peoples are uniquely placed to provide (Eckert et al., 2018; Huntington et al., 2017).

Climate change makes Indigenous peoples even more central to MPA management (Berkes, 2017; Cochran et al., 2013; Nursey-Bray et al., 2009). Indigenous communities are often on the frontline in observing and experiencing climate change impacts (Nunn & Reid, 2016; Nyong et al., 2007). They also lead climate adaptation responses (Ford et al., 2020).

MPA planners and managers have a responsibility to engage appropriately with Indigenous communities. Meaningful engagement and respect for Indigenous experts results in beneficial social, economic and conservation outcomes, especially as climate change increasingly causes stress on marine ecosystems. It also ensures compliance with domestic legal mandates and United Nations conventions, including the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP), the Nagoya Protocol and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) (Seddon et al., 2019).

Overall, MPA governance should aim to foster trust among Indigenous peoples, scientists and government officials, and support outcomes that benefit Indigenous peoples and their communities. Protecting and promoting Indigenous rights and entitlements can bring vital improvements in MPA governance (Bennett & Dearden, 2014).

Engaging with Indigenous peoples

Amid the increasing impacts of climate change, Indigenous and Western scientific approaches can, in collaboration, support effective marine ecosystems management via MPAs. There are many opportunities to strengthen engagement between Indigenous knowledge holders, marine conservation scientists, practitioners and other stakeholders in MPA decision-making and management. Two areas of MPA management that link directly with climate resilience and that particularly stand to benefit from Indigenous engagement are scientific research and MPA monitoring.

Indigenous engagement in MPA research

Numerous examples showcase the benefits of successful collaboration between marine scientists, practitioners, planners, policymakers, managers and Indigenous communities. Indigenous knowledges provide information about what should be occurring within marine and terrestrial environments, which can be compared with what is happening. This collaborative approach can provide a picture of climate change impacts, as well as predicting what may occur dependent upon future actions.

In Pacific Arctic waters, for example, a series of collaborative research initiatives demonstrate how Indigenous groups are significantly increasing understandings of mammal ecologies and health in the face of a changing climate. While Western scientists apply tools of veterinary science, isotopic and contaminant analysis, acoustic and visual surveys, as well as tagging, Indigenous knowledge holders offer keen observations of animal health, behaviour and diet, as well as environmental contaminants and seasonal events (Moore & Hauser, 2019).

Indigenous engagement in MPA monitoring

Indigenous engagement can also greatly benefit MPA monitoring. For instance, Australia’s Indigenous ranger programmes enhance Indigenous-led collaborative initiatives, including by combining traditional knowledge and modern conservation training to manage the impacts of climate change (Carmichael et al., 2017).

Management and planning by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority on Yirrganydji country in northeast Queensland, for example, actively includes the participation of local rangers in monitoring and management of biodiversity (e.g., threatened species such as turtle and dugong). Local rangers – alongside community elders – play a vital role in understanding local perceptions of climate change impacts, and in designing local-level responses. This includes Indigenous-led collaborations related to:

• Fire management

• Protection of threatened species and their habitats

• Pest, plant and feral animal management

• Visitor management

• Cultural heritage management

This partnership model also supports Indigenous people in maintaining connections to their lands, waters and territories, utilizing and preserving traditional knowledges, customary laws and use in compliance with the Convention on Biological Diversity (Nagoya Protocol, Article 12). Further examples of collaborative management of MPAs in the context of climate change can also be found in the Torres Strait Islands in northern Australia.

Box 1. Case study: Indigenous engagement in MPA management for Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawai’i

An estimated 25% of Hawai’i’s coral reef species are endemic, and their sand and soft-bottom marine ecosystems are distinct. MPAs play a key role in protecting vital Hawai’ian maritime habitats and ecosystems from climate change.

Incorporating local Indigenous knowledges – including via research and monitoring – ensures MPA management is relevant to both local Indigenous communities and the changing climate. Considering the ways MPAs intersect with, and are shaped by, Indigenous cultures, knowledges, practices, rights and territorial claims delivers direct benefits to the oceans and ecologies they seek to support and revive (Gray et al., 2017).

Native Hawai’ians place great significance on the protection of their sacred ocean and traditional fishing practices. Historically, relationships between the ocean, marine life and upland areas are well recognized, since they run through mountains, streams, forests and groundwater. People's influence is felt from “mauka to makai, from the mountains to the sea” (Young, 2005).

Reflecting these values and understandings, in 2006 Native Hawai’ians were central in establishing one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world – the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM) – to ensure protection of ecosystems and cultural and heritage resources.

How to respectfully include Indigenous peoples in MPA planning and management

Respectfully including Indigenous peoples into MPA governance is vital to conservation outcomes and responding to climate change. The inclusion of Indigenous practitioners and cultural experts – and their customary ecological knowledge – must, however, have the consent of all relevant Indigenous communities. Indigenous engagement needs to be properly resourced, and to respect Indigenous intellectual and cultural property rights.

You need to facilitate equitable governance structures that support meaningful involvement of Indigenous peoples, including via leadership roles for Indigenous knowledge holders. This may include Indigenous peoples’ involvement in identifying MPAs, monitoring climate change impacts, and designing and implementing protective measures, among other tasks (Day et al., 2019).

Guiding questions for including Indigenous peoples in the development of management agreements 

The following questions provide some practical support and guidance for working with Indigenous peoples in MPA management. These questions, while not exhaustive, reflect the intent of international agreements to protect the rights of Indigenous peoples (e.g., UNPFII, EGIP, UNDRIP and the Nagoya Protocol).

You should consider the following questions in consultation with local Indigenous groups. It should be supplemented with context-specific requirements for local Indigenous groups and/or communities. Where the answer to any question is “no”, you should act to address the omission, referring to national guidelines on Indigenous research and engagement where relevant, and through consultation with local Indigenous leadership and their community.

Table 1. Guiding questions for including Indigenous peoples in the development of management agreements[1]

Limitations and gaps

Several barriers limit meaningful engagement with Indigenous peoples in MPA management and appropriate inclusion of Indigenous knowledges in managing and adapting to climate change. Among these is the side-lining of Indigenous peoples in science-based decision-making processes. This often stems from a lack of recognition of Indigenous peoples as legitimate knowledge bearers, and Indigenous knowledges as legitimate “scientific” knowledge (Reid et al., 2020).

The exclusion and misuse of Indigenous knowledges is ethically wrong. It also creates significant gaps in conservation knowledge while the world is facing unprecedented impacts of climate change. Demonstrating this, while science-based marine conservation focuses on the protection of certain species, it may miss connections across species that exist within ecosystems. Indigenous approaches – that focus on the relationships between species and their surrounding environments – can provide important corrective insights for marine conservation (Stephenson et al., 2014).

While the benefits are many, caution must be applied in combining Indigenous and Western science in MPA management. There is a risk, for example, that Indigenous knowledges may be assimilated into Western science and practice without proper recognition of the viewpoint and expertise of Indigenous communities (Reid et al., 2020). Similarly, MPA planning and implementation may, at times, undermine Indigenous rights – including rights to territorial claims and cultural practices – including by disregarding customary and traditional laws (Gray et al., 2017).

For instance, tangata whenua (Māori people of Aotearoa New Zealand) have experienced such problems (Davies et al., 2018). Here, concerns that MPA implementation might diminish customary assets and management options eroded trust between local tangata whenua and MPA practitioners. In cases where MPA managers facilitated stronger Indigenous participation in marine protection planning processes, less opposition emerged (Davies et al., 2018: 122).

Adequate resourcing is also vital to support effective collaboration. In the case of Australia’s Indigenous ranger programmes, for example, the Australian government has invested AU$650 million over eight years – including AU$30 million towards building Indigenous rangers’ technological skills and capacities – to support programme effectiveness (National Indigenous Affairs Agency, 2021).

Ensuring the right to engage in Indigenous cultural practices within MPAs – as grounded in relevant international conventions and declarations – is also vital for enabling Indigenous peoples to manage MPAs. Finally, empowering Indigenous peoples to enforce marine park laws and regulations – including issuing fines and other penalties for overfishing, dumping and so on – can also deter harmful activities. This, in turn, may help the environment become more resilient to the impacts of climate change.